The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-22


Therefore We have to sufert
The men Of ancient times had ears of hard
ness,
And We have thereby suffered.
OF the confusion OF tongues re-
corded in the Babel legend of the
Bible, and the subsequent dispersion
of mankind there is something more
than mere echo in the following ad-
duration: "Oh, my children Oh,
my grandchildren Man had at first
but one father and one mother, but
they did not love cath other, and they
became enemies; then their language |
became different and they hated each
other and fought"
Men wcrs all brethren,
Then had we the Language OF God.
But they disbeleved Gods word,
And became enom les to each other;
Because they disObeyed u0d
There language was divided;
God tpoko to them in commands,
But they disbelieved him and were divided.
Like the Jewish belief in the
Messiah, temporal king, and an
ideally happy future condition OF men,
is the teaching of the Karens in the
following prose and poetic adjura'
tions "Oh, my children! Oh, my
grandchildren The Karens will
yet dwell again in the golden edifice.
II we do well, God will put an end
to all the other rulers. A Karen
king will appear, and when he comes
there will be happiness"
When tho Karen King appears,
There will only be one ruler;
Whan the Karan X tn0 nODaarA.
There will be neither rich nor poor
When tho Karen King arrives,
Eyon the beast will be happy,
| When the Karens have their king,
Lion and leopard shall leave their savage
ness.
In some remote future period the
Karens believe the Divinity will
make himself manifest to man, and
usher in reign of peace and good
will and, descending upon the earth,
will Judge mankind, Furnishing the
wicked and rewarding the good
At the appointed season Yu-vah will return,
And the dead trees will bloem again;
At the appointed year Yrvah will return
And Wondering tree will blossom again.
Previous to this happy consumma-
ton there will be--as in the vision OF
the Jewish prophet, MalHchi-a time
of tribulation and trouble:
| God W II como down with a trumpet,
| He will descend with n sound OF trumpet;
| Blowing he will gather men IKE flowers.
lie wal lther the n like tree blossoms;
| God will strike and tho earth VIII quake
And God will purify the earth.
AS a sign Of the times, the great
mountain shall become as a plain"
and great hills shall be leveled;'
and after that
Good persons. the good to God shall go;
| Rignte aus persons, the rigkto us to Heaven;
| Unrighteous persons, the unrighteous
At death shall to helli
Wicked persons, the bad
Shall into the FIRE # extinction;
Vic ed, the wicked
Shall fall into lowest hell.
The Karens are cautioned against
disregarding the time OF God $ judg'
meut, and are warned to give heed to
the teachings OF those sent in ad-
vance to prepare them:
when the teacher comes to teach them,
II they believe not, they will be destroyed;
When the teacher arrives andlteaches you;
If you believe rot, you will be utterly de-
stroy,d.
Those who are faithful and give
ear to the admonitions of the elders
will, in their naive phraseology, Go
TO the New Town and the New City,
and shall enjoy the golden palace. "
La heaven the Karen expects to find
sacred beings, like the "aneels' OF
the Old Testament, expecting the
behest of the Creator, They are de-
nominated Sons of Heaven" aad
are thus described;
The Sons Of Heaven are powerful,
They SIT by tho seat OF GOD;
The Sons OF Heaven are righteous,
They dwell together with God.
The Beings whom God employs,
To execute his purposes,
Have, to the present time,
The abiding place Of uod.
The Karens have very large
number of iujunctions bearing upon
uprightness of lite aud morality OF
conduct. They are all strictly in
accordance with Old Testament
teachings, and bear the most extraer-
binary resemblance, in their phraseol-
ogy, to that employed in the Old Tes-
lament Scriptures. There are COM
mands referring to the love of God
prayer, idolatry, repentance, aims
giving, humility, love OF our fellow
creatures, humanity toward animals
J the houoring of parents, false swear
ing, forbearauce, love Of ones enc
mics, and indifferent to earthly
things, differing in no essential re-
, spect from the teaching of the Bible
II would be difficult, in the compass
: OF brief article, to give anything
like list of these, interesting though
as they would be, for comparative
, purposes. We may, however, quote
l what they say as to the qualifications
of a Disciple of Yu-vah;"
. Yu-vah created the Earth;
Q Wouldst thou bee ams a disciple OF u-yah'
Yu-yah established the Earth;, -,
Wuuldst thou become a disciple OF lu-vahl
Then live apart from Tho ungodly'
. For IN y live regardlesa OF God
: And sky Nu.vah is dead,
: In reference to the worship OF tn,
E Diety, the following is also worth
S quoting:
Canst thou so up aa 4 Worship Yu-vahI